Wine Advisor
La Conseillante 2020
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
The 2020 La Conseillante is a blend of 87% Merlot and 13% Cabernet Franc. Seventy percent of the wine is being aged in new French oak barriques, 27% in second-fill barrels and 3% in amphorae. The alcohol came in at 14% and the pH is 3.64. Deep purple-black colored, it sails gracefully out of the glass with vivacious notes of black raspberries, kirsch and redcurrant jelly, leading to suggestions of ripe, juicy blackberries, violets, star anise and iron ore with a faint waft of dried mint. The medium to full-bodied palate is an exercise in elegance, delivering a quiet intensity of pure, energetic red and black berry layers with gorgeous floral and mineral sparks, framed by perfectly ripe, finely pixilated tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with epic length and the most breathtaking perfume. Simply mind-blowing.
Reviewed by: William Kelley
One of the wines of the vintage is the 2020 La Conseillante, a blend of 86% Merlot and 14% Cabernet Franc that wafts from the glass with inviting aromas of raspberries, red cherries and mulberries mingled with exotic spices, violets and rose petals. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and vibrant, it's a beautifully elegant, sensual wine with a deep core of fruit framed by powdery tannins, concluding with a long, extravagantly floral finish. This is a Pomerol of striking purity and sophistication. Congratulations to Marielle Cazaux and her team for surpassing even what they achieved in 2016 and 2019 with this brilliant 2020!
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2020 Conseillante offers up gorgeous scents of mocha, cinnamon, lavender and dried herbs. This year’s blend is 87% Merlot and 13% Cabernet Franc, with the Franc very much in evidence, especially in the wine’s aromatic presence. The 2020 is a very restrained, buttoned up Pomerol, less exuberant than some recent vintages, but super-finessed, pretty much as it was en primeur. It will be interesting to see where this goes. There’s potential for sure, how much is less obvious. The 2020 is very pure but also lithe in feel. It was aged for 16 months in a combination of 70% new oak, 27% one-used barrels and 3% amphora.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2020 La Conseillante is a supremely elegant, restrained wine that shows the continued move toward finesse here. Silky and gracious, it’s wonderfully classy from start to finish. Lavender, mint, spice and mocha complement the purplish berry fruit nicely, all framed by bright saline and mineral notes that lend energy. Today, the 2020 is quite reserved, with less opulence than some previous vintages. It's the sort of wine that is shy in its youth and then explodes with years in bottle. Yields were just under 40 hectoliters per hectare, very much in line with years like 2016, for example. Harvest took place September 4–19 for the Merlot and 21–30 for the Franc, more or less in line with what has become the norm of late. As usual, the malos were done in steel. Aging is 70% new oak, 27% once-used barrels and 3% amphora. It's a brilliant effort from Technical Director Marielle Cazaux and her team.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2020 La Conseillante was bottled in the beginning of June. This takes time to unfurl in the glass, blackberry and iris, touches of black truffle and cigar humidor, all beautifully defined. The Cabernet Franc, despite constituting a minor part of the blend plays a major role in the aromatics, lending a touch of black pepper. The palate is medium-bodied with a saline entry, here, the Merlot taking over the steering wheel, fresh and saline, a discreet touch of white pepper mixed with sage and a hint of graphite. Quite persistent in the mouth yet I feel this might close up for a time in bottle. It's quite a serious wine, less flamboyant than the previous vintage, one for hardcore Pomerol aficionados. This is a La Conseillante for long-term ageing. Superb.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2020 La Conseillante was picked September 14–17 for the Merlot and September 21–30 for the Cabernet Franc (eight picking days), the yields coming in at 37hl/ha, and matured in 70% new oak. Of the 13 parcels, four underwent vinification intégrale this year. Iridescent purple in color. The nose makes an immediate impression, delivering pure and quite precocious black currants and crushed iris flowers; subtle touches of morello cherries develop with aeration. It is beautifully defined and the oak seamlessly integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent, ripe tannins that disguise the backbone of this exquisitely balanced Pomerol. A discreet crescendo leads to a pixelated finish of awe-inspiring persistency. The old "iron fist in a velvet glove" cliché rings true here. A deeply impressive and quite profound La Conseillante courtesy of Marielle Cazaux and her team.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2020 La Conseillante has a beautifully composed, detailed bouquet with mineral-infused black fruit and touches of truffle and cedar. It gains intensity in the glass without losing any of its delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with saturated tannins. There's great depth and tension here, gliding toward a persistent finish with the salinity to urge you back for more. I marked this down a little because it lost a bit of energy in the glass when returning 20 minutes later, but it remains a serious Pomerol. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
The balance and energy to this is very impressive with blackberry, black-olive, tar and walnut character. It’s full, but very compact with superb tannin quality that is intense, yet so fine-grained, building layers on the palate. A subtle and structured young wine. It really goes on and on.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
So much black truffles here with dried earth, too. Black berries. Crushed stone. Plus violets. Full-bodied. Very plush with velvety tannins. Gentle yet very structured. Succulent. Clear and bright. Superb depth and length. Goes on and on. Thoughtful. Soulful. Try after 2028.
About the Producer
Chateau La Conseillante is located in the Pomerol appellation on the right bank of Bordeaux, France, next to Vieux Chateau Certan and Chateau L'Evangile, and is one of the best châteaux in Pomerol. The vineyard covers an area of 11.8 hectares with a topsoil of 60% grey clay and 40% gravel and a subsoil of red clay rich in iron. The vineyard is planted with 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. The Merlot is planted mainly on clay plots, while the Cabernet Franc is planted mainly on gravel. The average age of the vines is 35 years and the planting density is 7,000 vines per hectare. The winery uses traditional vineyard management practices, eliminating the use of herbicides. During the growing season, the land is usually plowed four times to suppress weed growth and thus obtain more water for the vines. In the winter, the vines are pruned in a strict Simple Guyot and Double Guyot style. In addition, the vineyards are de-leafed and de-budded to keep yields at around 4,000 liters per hectare. At harvest time, the grapes are hand-picked to their optimum ripeness and a preliminary selection is carried out. Once the selection is complete, the grapes are transported in small batches to the winery to prevent crushing of the fruit. The winery is located in the heart of the vineyard, which shortens the transportation time and ensures that the grapes are fresh and ready for fermentation. In 2012, the winery added a new fermentation room with enough temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks to ferment the grapes from each of the 18 plots separately, combining traditional winemaking techniques with modern technology. In addition, the winery now has four sorting tables and a de-stemmer. After being transferred to barrels, the grapes undergo a cold maceration of 48 to 96 hours. After maceration, the must is fermented in barrels with the skins for 1 week, followed by a further 1 to 2 weeks of maceration. At the end of fermentation, some of the artesian wine is released first and the remaining lees are pressed through a vertical press. The pressed wines are aged separately, and only some of the best pressed wines are blended with the artesian wines. Before bottling, the wines are matured in oak barrels for approximately 18 months, 50% to 80% of which are new. During maturation, the wines are decanted by the winemakers every three months and finally clarified with egg whites.
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Package Size
1 x 3L1 x 6L12 x 75cl3 x 1.5L
